A/N: New patreon bro @rizk just joined! Thank you for showing your support, I am really glad you liked the story!! Happy+1! Enjoy!!
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[ Upgrading Life Force: Lv. 10 ➔ Lv. 15. Cost: 5,000,000 KP. (1,000,000 KP per Level) ][ Processing... Confirmed. ]
[ Remaining KP Reserve: 2,845,000. ]
The final upgrade was the anchor. A massive, explosive surge of raw vitality flooded his cells. His stamina reserves, which had been slightly taxed by the endless Haki usage across four levels of the prison, were instantly and violently replenished.
He felt as though he could fight for ten days straight without a single drop of water. His muscles hummed with a limitless, terrifying energy.
Light slowly exhaled, a thick plume of white breath escaping his lips. He closed his eyes, forcing his mind to process the sensory overload of Future Sight. He filtered the noise. He calmed his heartbeat.
When he opened his eyes again, they were completely calm.
He walked toward the dark descent shaft leading to Level 6. As his boots clicked against the stone, the silence of his own mind was broken by a lingering, deeply unsettling thought.
He's a good guy.
Luffy's words echoed in his head.
Light frowned slightly.
He looked at his own hands. Hands that had just pulverized the hearts of thousands of men over the last three hours. He was a killer. He was the Reaper.
Even in his last world, they had called him 'Kira', short for 'killer'.
His system was flawless, impartial, and perfectly balanced.
But for the first time, a hairline fracture had appeared in Light's absolute certainty.
His mind drifted to Warden Magellan. Light had sensed the man's soul from the floor above. Magellan's Bad Karma was extremely low. The Warden was, by the system's definition, a fundamentally good man simply doing his duty to keep monsters locked away.
And yet, Light thought, his eyes narrowing in the dark, that 'good' man just unleashed a biological weapon on the Straw Hats.
He nearly melted people who went around adventuring saving countries.
Light descended the spiraling stairs, the air growing stagnant and heavy.
Something about it didn't sit well with him.
The world wasn't right.
He knew it long ago. But how would he judge such a world?
Then that woman, Nico Robin, Light continued his internal debate.
Her Bad Karma is over eight thousand. She is irredeemable trash.
And yet... she is protected by the same boy who almost died for a stranger. Luffy wouldn't have done it for an evil person, I know at least that much.
The rigid, binary foundation of his entire crusade felt suddenly... inadequate.
The threshold from his earlier days, the decision that if:
bad karma greater than 5000 = criminal = kill
-suddenly felt lacking.
The Karma System impartially judged a person's deeds.
But is judging the deeds enough?
Light Yagami had given reason to a tiny doubt in his mind.
He completely dismissed the Karma System.
For all the reflection and effort he could ever try to become what he wasn't, Light Yagami remained closer to a God than he ever was to being human.
'His' judgement was absolute.
'His' judgement flawless.
He was better than some whatever system.
One would raise the doubt that he was being too hard on himself, which would be true.
But when arrogance reaches unfathomable levels, a person believes himself so right, that going wrong becomes unthinkable and utterly unacceptable to them.
Such was the case with the man who thought himself God.
The self-centered psychopath gripped the hilt of his saber tighter.
His genius realised it.
He was preparing to go to war against the greatest powers in the world. He would judge the lives of thousands at Marineford.
If he went in doubt like this, he would fall.
No...
I need to look deeper, Light resolved silently.
I need to understand them.
The numbers aren't enough. I need to see the truth, whatever the cost.
Light pushed the philosophy aside for the moment. He had arrived.
[Level 6: The Eternal Hell]
He walked past the massive, cavernous vaults, his Level 3 Conqueror's Haki leaking just enough to silence the legendary monsters chained within the dark.
He reached a certain vault.
Light stopped. He didn't need a torch to see inside; his Observation Haki swept through the dark space effortlessly.
He saw the heavy, solid iron chains bolted securely to the back wall. But they were completely empty. The massive shackles hung uselessly against the cold stone, the locks disengaged and discarded on the floor.
Gone.
Fire Fist Ace was gone.
However, the cell wasn't completely devoid of life. Chained just as heavily to the adjacent wall, suspended by his wrists, was a massive, blue-skinned Fish-Man.
Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea. Former Warlord.
Jinbe slowly raised his head. His dark eyes, tired but carrying a profound, quiet dignity, locked onto the man standing outside his cage. Jinbe couldn't see the systemic upgrades Light had just undergone, but his hardened instincts screamed at him that the man in the black coat was an apex predator.
"You do not wear the uniform of this prison," Jinbe rumbled. "And you do not smell of the sea like a pirate. Who are you, standing in the dark?"
Light stood perfectly still. The system panel instantly materialized above the Fish-Man's head.
[ Name: Jinbe ][ Green: 45,500 | Bad: 1,500 ]
Light's eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter. Forty-five thousand Green Karma. It was one of the highest positive scores he had ever seen.
This man was a true knight.
"I am someone looking for Fire Fist Ace," Light answered smoothly. "But it appears I'm late."
Jinbe's eyes narrowed slightly.
He studied the stranger, sensing no immediate malice.
"If you are a friend of Ace-kun," Jinbe sighed heavily, "then you are too late. They came for him. He was escorted to the surface administrative levels an hour ago. He must have already left for Marineford."
Light closed his eyes.
An hour ago.
He thought of Luffy, bleeding and burning on the table in Newkama Land. Luffy was going to charge down here, his heart full of hope, only to find empty chains.
The sheer devastation that is going to crush that boy, Light thought, a flicker of bother in his mind.
Before Light could respond to the Fish-Man, the stagnant air of the Eternal Hell violently shifted.
Drip.
Hisssss.
A thick drop of purple sludge hit the stone floor a few dozen yards behind Light.
Light didn't flinch. His Future Sight had already shown him the arrival three seconds ago.
He slowly turned around, his black coat sweeping elegantly in the still air.
Standing in the middle of the Eternal Hell, heavily panting and bleeding from Zoro's slash across his torso, was Warden Magellan. Thick, highly toxic purple venom poured from his body in massive quantities.
"I was told there was a second breach," Magellan growled, his bubbling voice echoing loudly. "The cameras on Level 1 showed a man in a black coat executing my prisoners."
"But you're more than just a rat, aren't you?"
"God Killer False Deity".
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A/N: T
{Read advanced chapters at patreon(dot)com/Glivaria}